1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to telephonic communications and, more particularly, to a personal information manager that organizes telephone call message responses in reaction to such factors as the calling party identity, time of day, and activity level.
2. Description of the Related Art
In most state of the art telephones, including mobile station and landline telephones, the identity of the calling party can be established before the telephone is answered. The telephones have access to the current time through the same mechanism (Caller ID). Telephones also have programmable ring tone features. Although a telephone can be individually customized using these mechanisms, there are few features available to permit a telephone to react in response to the identity of the calling party or the time of day. Where these features are available, at least one user-directed or manual step is required in the process. For example, few methods exist to conveniently, automatically, or programmably modify the phone's alerting methods. Neither are there programmable methods of redirecting voice mail based on the user's preferences or calendar entries. Instead, the change of the alerting method must be manually performed each time by the user. The redirection to a voice mail system can typically only be achieved when the telephone is in use, or not answered within a certain number of rings. No convenient method exists for modifying the voice mail system to respond differently for different callers or different times of day.
It would be advantageous if a telephone user could program a telephone to respond differently for different situations.
It would be advantageous if a telephone could be programmed to respond uniquely to each caller.
It would be advantageous if a telephone could be programmed to respond in reaction to the time of day.
It would be advantageous if a telephone could modify its behavior and message response in reaction to external events, without immediate user intervention. To that end, it would be advantageous if a telephone's audible ringer could be silenced during times previously selected by the user. Also, it would desirable if calls could be blocked from a first class of identified calling parties, while other calls permitted to ring through from a second group of identified calling parties.